Blog Overview

Batch 5

Production:

Production Completion: Mid-March 2026:

Planning

In Production

Assembly/Quality Assurance

Shipping:

USA:

5 Weeks from Factory Completion: Mid May 2026

Bulk Freight to USA Warehouse (4 weeks)

Pick and Pack of Customer Orders in USA

Last Mile Fulfilment - Within USA (2-7 days)

Rest of World:

2 Weeks from Factory Completion: Mid May 2026

Bulk Trucking to Hong Kong Warehouse (1-2 days)

Pick and Pack of Customer Orders in Hong Kong

Last Mile Fulfilment - By Air China to World (2 weeks)

Updates:

27 May 2026:

Quick heads up regarding the extension purchase order: Our Alibaba records show all parts as delivered to our main factory and am waiting on confirmation from their factory floor team. Final packaging is set to start this week but likely expected to complete next week.

 

Planning to visit the factory on Monday 1 June for quality approval.

19 May 2026:

The good news first: the original inbound Batch 5 shipment had arrived at the U.S. warehouse on May 4th, and we have already started shipping portions of the older outstanding orders over the past couple of days.

 

Unfortunately, immediately after arrival, we encountered several additional operational issues that created another round of delays before orders could properly move out.

 

What happened after arrival

 

Warehouse intake delays

Our logistics provider recently transitioned us to an entirely new account management team. While everybody involved has been trying to help, the new team needed time to learn and execute existing inbound procedures internally.

This unfortunately caused another week of unexpected delays just to properly intake and register the shipment into the warehouse systems after physical arrival.

 

Why communication slowed down again

I had mentioned previously that I was in the process of rebuilding CS operations and recruiting new staff after earlier staff departures.

 

Unfortunately, the new staff member ultimately could not participate in this fulfillment phase, which again left me personally balancing fulfillment coordination, supplier communication, customer support, and operational work simultaneously.

 

Realistically, given it has been just me on order operations and CS, there has been a constant tradeoff between doing the operational work itself versus communicating about the operational work.

 

Incorrect factory shipping manifest

The larger issue was that we discovered that the original shipping manifest provided by the factory two months ago, was incorrect.

 

Bundles consist of individual kit boxes and especially Magic Arm Kits, which are part of nearly every order, arrived in too low of a quantity. While most parts did arrive, this created a time consuming allocation issue internally because fulfillment planning had already been built around the expected quantities. 

 

As a result, while many orders can now ship immediately and are being processed, some orders are missing specific components.

 

The solution: Airfreight from China

For customers affected by the current shortages, we will ship the missing components directly from China via air freight  to your home at our expense rather than waiting for another ocean freight cycle.

 

Because of all the delays, Batch 5 effectively became multiple overlapping production runs. We had already started an additional extension production run roughly two months ago.

 

That extension production is now in its final stages in Mainland China and will be used to close the remaining fulfillment gaps.

 

Current expectation is:

  • Remaining parts arriving at final assembly by the end of this week,
  • Assembly completion within roughly 1–2 days, by next week
  • Followed by direct shipment for these missing items, 9-14 days

Current transit expectation for direct China shipments is approximately 9–14 days after production completion. Parts already in the USA will ship from the US warehouse with the usual 2-5 days shipping time from the warehouse once dispatched.

 

I will work through the affected order list and contact customers individually as we progress with allocations.

 

Thank you again for the patience and support throughout this batch cycle. I am very aware that operations need to improve and multiple initiatives are underway to close the staffing gap, have better AI status updates via our CS system, and deep batch tracking in our website and email system. I am very eager for everybody to finally have the product in hand.

 

— Wolfgang

29 April 2026:

The final US leg has now started.
 

UPS has picked up the shipment from customs, and the current scheduled arrival at our US distribution warehouse is 04 May 2026.

 

Once received at the warehouse, orders will move through intake, picking, packing, and tracking upload. From there, it's the mentioned 2-5 business days of US last-mile delivery.
 

This last step has taken longer than expected. The shipment had already cleared customs on 20 April, but then spent several days waiting for pickup before the warehouse transfer could begin. Based on the current arrival date, the full factory-to-warehouse timeline will be closer to 6.5 weeks, rather than the originally expected 3–4 weeks.
 

I’m sorry for the extra wait. We are finally on the last stretch now, and I’ll update this page again once the shipment has been received and orders start going out.

24 April 2026:

Our shipment has cleared customs in the USA on April 20 already and is waiting for pickup by UPS for trucking to our US fulfilment warehouse. 

 

Pickup date from customs has been communicated as April 27 and then a few days to our warehouse (in the past this has taken anywhere from 1-7 calendar days). A bit frustrating to have our shipment ready to be picked up for a full week to be honest - but we are getting there!

Since last mile from the fulfilment warehouse is 2-5 business days, this puts expected delivery at your door to the end of the first week of May.

15 April 2026:

Quick update: our shipment is currently en route and expected to arrive at port on April 18.

 

From there, delivery to our U.S. warehouse is scheduled for April 22, subject to smooth customs clearance.

Once received:

  • Inbounding takes 24-48 hours
  • Orders are released immediately for fulfillment
  • Last-mile delivery takes 2-5 business days

This puts expected delivery at your door by the end of April.

19 March 2026:

1) Production fully completed ✅
The full Batch 5 production run is now complete.

 

Earlier this week, I was on-site in Huizhou to review and accept the second half of the batch — including all Double Rod Kits. Quality has been approved, and the shipment has now been handed over for export.

 

2) USA Bulk Freight to USA Warehouse (incl. Double Rods) on the way
The second half of Batch 5 is now moving to the U.S. via ocean freight, as planned.

Estimated transit time: ~25–30 days

 

Upon arrival in the U.S.:

1–2 business days for warehouse processing

2–5 business days FedEx delivery (U.S.)

 

This means you should have your rig mid/late April!

 

3) Rest-of-world orders now being fulfilled 
Open rest-of-world orders are currently being processed and will begin shipping out over the coming days.

Delivery after dispatch: ~10–14 days, as previously communicated.

 

I’ve also shared a few impressions from Huizhou during final inspection, as well as a reel on Instagram and Facebook.

 

Next update will follow once the ocean shipment is closer to arrival in the U.S. Thank you for all the support and patience.

27 Feb 2026:

Quick update on Batch 5 progress:
 

1) First half is already in the U.S. ✅
The first half of Batch 5 has arrived at our U.S. warehouse, cleared customs, and has been inbounded. This shipment includes everything except the Double Rods.


2) Second half (incl. Double Rod Kits) is close ⏳
The second half of Batch 5 - which includes Double Rod Kits (plus additional units of other items) - is expected to leave China in early to mid-March.


Why the split happened (Chinese New Year timing):
Right before Chinese New Year, we had a delay on the Double Rod CNC work, which meant the parts didn’t make it into anodization in time. Chinese New Year is essentially a ~3 week national shutdown period, and factories restart in a staggered / messy way depending on teams and workers. So we had to wait out the holiday window.

The good news: Double Rods are now scheduled to be completed in early March, and we’ll ship them out as fast as possible after that. In other words: this should not create a major delay (if any) relative to the overall plan.


What this means for delivery timing:

Once product arrives in the U.S., fulfillment is usually just a couple of days. So the critical path is getting the second shipment out of China and into the U.S.


For rest-of-world orders, delivery after dispatch is typically ~7–14 days.

Since most orders are U.S.-based, any small timing impact on rest-of-world shipments affects only a handful of customers.


Net-net: we’re very close to on-time overall, and the first half that arrived in the U.S. is actually ahead of schedule.

I’ll post another update as soon as the second shipment is on the move.

04 Feb 2026:

As of Monday all sub contractor parts have been received at the main factory. Those parts include things like packaging materials, magic arms and tripod heads, screws etc. 

 

Our main factory has produced all of their parts as well, with some still undergoing surface treatment/annodisation. 

 

So far we are on track for our mid-February production completion target!

 

Below a couple images of the incoming parts of this batch.

07 Jan 2026:

Batch 5 has officially been ordered and is in production! Let's gooo!!! 🎉🎉🎉